Alberta Spearhead

[Dayw]

I found this spearhead in a box of my grandfather's old things. It was possibly found in Alberta, Canada, though he could have bought it somewhere else too I suppose.
About 8 inches long, feels like it's made out of cast iron. It's hollow at one end, with a curled tail. It looks handmade.
Any ideas where this could have come from or what it would have been used for?

[painshill]

Welcome to arrowheads.com

Neat. That's an antique harpoon tip. Perhaps a little small for whaling, but they were also used for seal hunting. The loop is for the attachment of a line.

[Mattern]

Hi Dayw. Welcome to the site, you'll enjoy it if your into Artifacts. Now this is a stretch but it looks like what we call a Gig head. Used for gigging fish here in Pa. and I'm sure other places. Handmade by local blacksmiths. Or what painshill said. Kim

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Kim, The harpoon tip is over eight inches long.

[Narrow Way Knapper]

Would be cool to make a shaft for it and hang it on the wall.

[Ron Kelley]

Nice antique harpoon tip. Thanks for posting that.

[Fat]

Im sure a commercial whaling harpoon. Shot from a black powder cannon. They were attached to a shaft, like an atlatl socket.
Ive seen several with that basic style. That thing and 3-4-6? more getting shot into 2 feet of blubber is there to stay.

[Mattern]

Ron, I've seen double tipped Gigs here. And there isn't a wild Seal, Walrus, or whale within hundreds of miles. But we did have Stergins Gar and OceanStripers here before the dams went up. And as you know they can get very big. I live in Dutch Country. We called them gigs, perhaps a German or Dutch word for Harpoon. Kim

[SurfaceHunter]

Pretty cool antique. Looks like its already been identified.

[Fat]

I’ve caught palid sturgin, hook and line in the Columbia river and snagged them in the Missouri below Gavins point dam in N east Nebraska
I have several frogging gigs, I can photograph and have seen the “two” style that look like a big “wish bone” with “barbs” facing inwards towards each other.
I need to study that “2” kinda more.

[Hal Gorges]

Welcome from Florida.

[utilized flake]

What a neat item to have from your grandfather! I wonder how many sea animals that harpooned!! I would cherish something like that being a saltwater fisherman myself! You should get a nice wooden/glass display case for it!

[paohrocks]

Interesting piece, thanks for sharing